N-Judah Line Adding a Three-Car Train

Maybe you’ve heard the news about that sleek, new modern fleet of Muni light rail trains coming to San Francisco this autumn. But with these new trains, the good news comes in threes. That’s because when these new trains are deployed later this year, the N-Judah lines will triple up with three-car trains.

The three-car N-Judah service would not begin until the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) deploys the new fleet of trains later this year. Furthermore, not every N-Judah will be a three-car train. But the three-car N-Judah trains will be deployed for peak riding hours to ease congestion and relieve crowd size.

“Once the first set of new trains arrive in San Francisco, we plan to implement three-car trains on the N-Judah to help ease overcrowding on one of our most heavily-used lines,” SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose tells SF Weekly.

The N-Judah is the busiest train in the Muni Metro system, with an average of daily ridership of nearly 50,000.

Muni’s first new light rail train arrived in January, but must undergo rigorous safety testing and get certification from the California Public Utilities Commission. The SFMTA plans to add 24 of the new trains by the end of 2018, and another 40 by the end of 2020.